U.S. insists on keeping control of Internet
SEP. 29 10:35 A.M. ET A senior U.S. official rejected calls on Thursday for a U.N. body to take over control of the main computers that direct traffic on the Internet, reiterating U.S. intentions to keep its historical role as the medium's principal overseer. "We will not agree to the U.N. taking over the management of the Internet," said Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department. "Some countries want that. We think that's unacceptable."
Many countries, particularly developing ones, have become increasingly concerned about the U.S. control, which stems from the country's role in creating the Internet as a Pentagon project and funding much of its early development.
Wild gorillas spotted using tools for first time
WASHINGTON - Two female gorillas have been photographed using sticks as tools to get through swampy areas, the first time the apes have been seen doing so in the wild, researchers reported on Thursday. “This is a truly astounding discovery,” said Thomas Breuer of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who led the study.
The findings can help shed light on how human beings came to use tools, and also broaden the understanding of how animals use them, the researchers said.
Pic of the day
STAR WARS tops list as AFI'S best score of all-time
The Force is strong with John Williams. Not only was his score for 1977's Star Wars named the number one Greatest Film Score of all time by the list-happy folks at the American Film Institute, but the music he wrote for 1975's Jaws and 1982's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial also made the cut, coming in at number six and 14 respectively.
A jury of over 500 film artists, composers, musicians, critics and historians were tapped to determine which of the most memorable scores would be chosen for The Big Picture—AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores, a new list commissioned by the famed institute in association with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
Of the movie music rounding out the top 10, a number predictably belong to some of the most beloved films ever made. Coming in at number two was Max Steiner's majestic score for 1939's Gone with the Wind. That was followed in third place by Maurice Jarre's sweeping orchestrations for 1962's Lawrence of Arabia, Bernard Herrmann's heart-piercing composition for 1960's Psycho in fourth, and Nino Rota's epic score for 1972's The Godfather in fifth.
Pic of the day: Total Cows
Next blog
I just noticed the "next blog" button on the top right hand corner of this page. So I clicked it and this blog came up:
http://daphneethippolyte.blogspot.com/NICE!
Hands On With the Revolution
Some lucky dude at WIRED got to test out the Nintendo Revolution controler....
TOKYO -- The Revolution will be televised, and so will every movement of your hands. After months of teasing, Nintendo has pulled back the curtain on the controller that will accompany its upcoming home game console, called Revolution, when the system launches in 2006.
Its Japanese designers call it a "game remote control." Nintendo's American employees have taken to calling it "freehand style." Whatever you call it, the controller -- which uses motion-detecting hardware to pinpoint its distance from the screen, location in the room, and even pitch and yaw -- promises a whole new way to play console games.
The controller itself, which is wireless, has a surprisingly different form factor. It looks very much like a television remote control; it is vertically oriented and held in one hand. Your thumb can rest on a directional pad or large A button, and your index finger curls around to grip the B trigger on the underside.
Rockstar revs up 'Driver' feature
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Rockstar Games, the game publisher best known for its controversial and best-selling "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, has entered the film business with a new R-rated documentary, "Sunday Driver."
In an intriguing move, the company has opted to release the feature-length movie in the fall exclusively on the Universal Media Disc (UMD) format used by Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP) entertainment device. Rockstar also will ship an exclusive "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" game for PSP on October 24.
Produced by Rockstar Games, "Driver" is an all-access documentary film that chronicles the Compton/Watts chapter of California's low-rider car club, the Majestics. Directed by Carol Strong, the film focuses on a community working together to build the ultimate customized vehicles while struggling to legitimize their lifestyle under close scrutiny of the authorities.
Pic of the day: Game Man
Apparently some kind of art project but the good news is that it works.
Official Game Man site
Pic of the day: Jedi Squirrels
Linux powered humanoid robot
A run of 100 Linux-powered humanoid robots goes on sale in Japan Friday, priced at 1.5M Yen (about $14,000), not including 10,000 Yen (~$90) monthly service fees. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries conceived of Wakamuru as a pleasant companion offering a range of electronic-age valet services.
Mitsubishi says it has tried to create a robot that can sustain meaningful relationships with human beings, initiating conversations with family members and offering services such as alarm, news, weather, and email dictation. The device can look after the house, provide video streams over cellular networks, and cull useful information over the Internet, while maintaining its own autonomous "rhythm of life," the company says.
According to Mitsubishi, Wakamaru was designed by Mr. Toshiyuki Kita, who patterned the robot after a growing child. The name "wakamaru" derives from the childhood nickname of Minamoto Yoshitsune, a twelfth-century Japanese Samurai who engineered military victories that enabled his brother Yoritomo to gain control of Japan. The name is associated with "growth" and "development," the company says.
Is it just me or does this robot make C3PO look manly? Hey Japan! When can we get some cool robots? or maybe even some sexy robots? —Agent 1138
Nintendo Revolution trailer
See the new controller in action....
get the quicktime file
HERE
The first TV commercial for Zelda
Look at that fucking nerd trying to impress his cool-guy jean jacket wearing friend with the new Zelda game. Memories....
See the ad
HERE
Take THAT Hot Coffee
I love the GTA modding community....
Get the mod
HERE
Kubrick GTA 3 figures
These are sold out everywhere and this makes me sad. It also kinda makes me wonder why there aren't any other GTA figures out there. Hell, if they have Scareface toys why not GTA?
Pic of the day
Nintendo Revolution controller
Finally.... looks... well, um, .... revolutionary? I guess. I really can't wait to get my hands... er, hand on this. If it's functionality is anything like what they describe, its gonna be awesome.
Full story HEREFrom the story:
The controller for Nintendo's upcoming Revolution home console system is a cordless remote-control-like device designed to be used with only one hand. Two small sensors placed near the TV and a chip inside the controller track its position and orientation, allowing the player to manipulate the action on screen by physically moving the controller itself. For example, you could slash an in-game sword by actually swinging the controller from side to side, turn a race car just by twisting your wrist, or aim your gun in a shooter by pointing the controller where you want to fire
Burnout Revenge — Review
What a great fucking game.
I woke up an hour early today so I could finish a few races before work. Played 4 hours straight last night: 24% complete, 46 events won, 28 gold medals. I won a Carl's Jr. truck. The only way I can describe the graphics and sense of speed is to say this: this is so close to next-gen stuff that the next gen has it's work cut out for it. Unless of course they have an xbox3shitty version hidding in the shadows, waiting to pounce on my back like a crazed monkey. If thats the case sign me up right now. Who wants their coke cut with meth when you can get the coke that rockstars get?
The new shit: you can smash into same-way traffic now without crashing. You basically shoot the car ahead of you into any oncoming traffic. This makes the game about a bajillion times more fun than B3 as you can now launch traffic at your racing rivals to take them out. It also gives you a crazy speed boost so you can drive around like Jesus built that hotrod. Cars fly everywhere and it reminds you of that highway chase scene in Matrix 2, except that it's fun. This is of course satisfying in the way that hearing the lamentations of the women might satisfy Conan the Barbarian.
Crash mode made me nervous at first. Can't say I dug the power meter thinger right off the bat. It's not long before you master the timing though, so I'll forgive them on that. Really its the only problem with BR, but calling that a problem would be like calling Marylin Monroe's facial mole a problem. I miss the crash icons you aimed for in B3, but they've figured out ways to avoid that. You can coast off cars you crash into now, so you have way more mometum now. Also, you can have mutlitple crashbreakes as the chaos mutliplies. The last crashmode I played I got around $15,000,000. ALOT of shit blew up, and I figure this is just the tip of the ice burg. One thing I really miss is the camera replay. Its gone (unless i missed something... possible but unlikely) and I miss it. Strange that the event that Criterion chose to change the most is arguable the most popular event in the franchise. Ah vell. It still rocks, and I had a blast with it. So its not like it sucks now or anything like that, its just different. I'm not sure if its golf with cars as they advert promised. Maybe bowling with cars?
The sound effects kick ass, and are very hollywood in all respects. They really know how to make glass shatter, metal tear and bend, etc. And that creepy slow-motion crashing noise is back and better than ever. That noise just says crash. As for the music, I turned it off before I played a single race so I will never know. I played with
The Dirtbombs and
Fu Manchu playing in the background. I suspect that neither band are on EA's trax roster. Probably for the better.
Did you ever see that David Cronenberg movie
Crash? The one were they all get off by getting into car crashes? This would be their favorite game when they are in the hospital.
